Dear Friends, Colleagues and Elected Representatives,
Greetings! We observe news reports of culling part of HS2 and associated Northern Powerhouse HS3 with some concern, as to what any Plan B if at all will look like? COP 26 showed a dire need to cut emissions and transport is a key sector to get right, granted home and abroad, but leadership blinks first in any case and so must we as a nation surely?
Therefore re-railing communities with station accessibility, inclusion and affordability at the point of use comes to the fore. Likewise as per attached press release, you cannot default when thanks to the closures, rail no longer exists or glaring gaps exist, which can only mean locked-in default to roads and more roads is bad for pollution, emissions, congestion, time delay and cost to name but a few.
Government and Opposition of all tiers and shades need to be held accountable to come up with what they would do and not promise the earth, which is not necessarily honest given the short-termism of political government tenures. I also attach a press rlease from our colleagues calling for an alternative to HS2 and/or HS3 and putting their own oar in to the discussion. Add to this the ERTA and others have mentioned finishing Midland Main Line electrification and asociated matters would again add positively to the jigsaw cum mosaic pattern of what we need for a better spread of rail and give rail a better deal contrast a need to transfer the £41 billion the Chancellor found for new roads, which again, needs challenging, not silence by opposition armed with their own Reversing Beeching Master Plans.
If Government were leading on these matters, they would call-in the turning of an old trackbed to a canal between Guildford and Horsham and demand/provide funding for studying reviving a rail link for Reading-Brighton direct 'not via London'. Instead, added to which their Highways blocking bridges and demolishing railway structures plan, all seems to fly in the face of environment, levelling up and pragmatic 'keeping options open'.
Again, many proposals to use trackbeds for other things to keep reopening alive, have in themselves turned to become objectors to rebuilding or new railways, so few panaceas but a dire need for Government and other tiers to nurture modal shift from road to rail again as a staple people and goods carriage facility and infrastructure. ERTA will play its role with your continued support. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Pill
ERTA Chairman
richard.erta@gmail.com
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